Game Thoughts Packers/Bears

Sam Shields just played a Tramon Williamsesque game today. Really really quality. Second pick was really nice – he looked like a WR on that catch. I’m glad he didn’t fumble!

A complete effort in the first half won this game. We didn’t show up in the second half, but fortunately we had essentially already won.

Tim Masthay is phenomenal. Devin Hester tracking back having to make over the should catches near the sideline is nowhere near as effective as Hester catching the ball in the open field. Masthay was masterful today. 5 of his 8 punts landed inside the Bears’ 20, and 2 of the other 3 outside the 20 (I believe) were 60+ yard kicks. He was just fantastic today.

Rodgers did set the tone early. He really struggled in the 2nd half. But his first couple drives really set the tone and proved to be too much for the Bears to handle.

Starks was good again. He had some nice holes to run through but he was also really good running after contact. His emergence has been huge.

Jennings was great today. It makes sense to lean on your best player offensively and right now, Jennings is our best offensive weapon.

Bishop was solid today despite one costly play when he didn’t bring Forte down right away (and Forte got a first down).

Raji’s TD was awesome, simply awesome.

Todd Collins is the worst player on any NFL team.

Caleb Hanie was infinitely better than Cutler could have been had he not faked his injury.

Mike Martz was had some good stuff dialed up in the second half, but made a critically bad 3rd and 3 play call on the reverse call to Bennett. That was really bad and Bishop lit him up.

McCarthy was calling a great game early in the first half. Just very solid. Second half – totally different story.

Capers was calling a great game early in the first half. Just very solid. Second half – totally different story.

How we let Forte run wild I’ll just never know. He’s the only guy on that offense worth covering and we let him gash us for 160 yards. We focus on him (maybe just put Woodson on him) and Chicago has zero offense. Zero.

Capers really fell off in the second half with his play calls. His one all out blitz (can’t remember what point that was at exactly now), was a terrible call. Olsen got the first. We had been getting through no problem rushing just 4 – there was no need to bring the house there.

McCarthy’s play calling toward the end was very concerning. You can’t argue he was trying to eat up clock time because Starks went out of bounds on one of those very very obvious running plays. At the very least, bring in some WRs to pull some DBs away from the line of scrimmage. The obvious run plays that yielded nothing were so worthless down the stretch.

Chicago’s quick drives with Hanie at the helm should be really concerning for us heading to the Super Bowl. (Still getting used to the sound of that – we’re going to the SUPER BOWL!!!). I know we were totally exhausted out there on D and Capers was trying to rotate lots of guys in and out but man, that was WAY too easy for a 3rd string QB.

Rodgers play was concerning. I seriously think he got a concussion on that one hit by Peppers (which was a massive penalty by the way – why the Bears complained there I have no idea). Rodgers was just off especially in the second half tonight.

Our O-Line was weird. There were some unbelievably massive holes for Starks (and Jackson) tonight which looked like phenomenal blocking – then there would be nothing – absolutely nothing. Overall, getting Starks to 74 yards rushing, I’d have to say the O-Line did there job (though Starks gets some credit for breaking tackles).

I would have liked to have seen some more screens tonight. I know it’s tough to throw screens on a crappy field, but that would have been smart tonight in particular to Starks.

Jackson had the best move of the night leaving Urlacher picking up his jock. That was a tremendous shake and a huge first down.

Our tight ends are nonexistent. Rodgers should not have thrown that one key 3rd down to Quarless who was so uninvolved until that point – though Quarless should have caught that.

Jordy Nelson really is big. He is reliable, gets open and I think he’s a match-up nightmare for any #3 or #4 corner. Lining up to defend our multiple WR sets just has to suck for opposing defenses.

Our short yardage plays were not good today. We need to just figure that out. I don’t like the plays when it’s completely obvious that we’re running. We should at least have 1-2 WRs out there to keep defenses honest. If we had a massive O-Line that usually won line of scrimmage battles, I wouldn’t mind. But we don’t have that – so we shouldn’t run totally obvious run plays.

I still can’t imagine what happened to Cutler short of a torn ACL or something that would have kept him out of the game.

The better team won today – definitely. Our defense rendered Chicago’s offense mostly worthless, especially in the first half, but our overall team proved today that we are much better.

Can’t wait for the Super Bowl now! We definitely deserve a trip to the Super Bowl – this is absolutely fantastic. And as concerned as I was/am about McCarthy’s second half play calling – I have to give him a lot of credit for taking the team this far. He has done a whale of a job since the Detroit meltdown as a coach. He has made sure all the players have been ready to play in each game, he has brought good strategies to each game and he has, for the most part, managed games quite well. I’m really proud of McCarthy for helping to drag the team through the tough times this season. He and Capers (and the rest of the coaching staff) should get lots of credit for what this team has accomplished – and in particular, for bringing up to speed/developing guys who have come out of nowhere and contributed big time (Starks, Walden, Shields, Masthay, etc). When a team has so many injuries in one year yet still manages to make it to the Super Bowl, that is a clear indication that the rest of the guys have been coached up beautifully.

TT also has done a great job of picking up key guys throughout the year off the scrap heap. I still think the Howard Green pick up was huge – literally.

im thinking rodgers may of got a concussion too.. thats very concerning.. we got 2 weeks off, but 3 in one year would be so bad.. and bad for his career.. I’m crossing my fingers, this could be very bad.

Cutler…what a quitter. Worked out for us, although I agree with everyone that the 3rd stringer played better than Cutler did (and better than Collins ever could in his life). I would watch the wire to find out when the surgery is for this horrific injury that kept him out of the biggest game of his career. This is going to be fun texting my Chicago friends from college. About as much as when I could tell them that the Colts voted Rex Grossman the MVP of their SUper Bowl win.

Wow. Masthay is a big reason the Packers won that game. He won the field position battle against Manard and was just outstanding.

So much more to comment on…..but….I just want to enjoy it. Time for discussion the next two weeks!

Cutler looked like he quit to me. Every Bear’s fan I know is ready to run him out of town. The Bear’s better play up that injury because if it turns out to be minor Bear’s fans will never forgive him for quitting. They are used to bad QB’s but not a guy that is willing to quit in the NFC championship game.

Anyone headed down here for the game? I told my wife that if the Pack goes, and the game is here in Dallas….it’s God’s way of saying I need to be there. Tickets are crazy expensive alreadey ($3000 – $12000) but Jerry is selling $200 passes to watch it on the outside jumbotrons. May be worth it to watch amongst the Packer Nation!

I have a question about the refs calls. On one play the Bears punt to the Packer. There is an illegal man downfield against the Bears. The ball was caught by the Packers. The bears were penalized 5 yards with the extra yards going to the PAckers. On the end of that seies, the PAckers punt. Same call: illegal man downfield. This time, the packers are penalized 5 yards and the punt is rekicked. Why two different penalities for the same exact infraction?

The second half was brutal. I think Chicago’s D made some adjustments and really stepped it up, but the Pack also didn’t play well either. It was like two different teams played. I wonder if our defense had issues once Cutler went out. Our CBs all seem to put in lots of study time and I wonder if not having been able to study Haine limited their effectiveness.

They absolutely have to play better in the Super Bowl.

That said – THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!

Sam Shields is amazing and we got lucky to sign him. Raji is a beast (although some needs to point out that we don’t hold the ball like that until after we’re a few feet into the end zone). And after all the injuries this year the fact that we are going to the Super Bowl is amazing. Hopefully this will be a kick in the pants that they can’t take anything for granted and MM and Dom Capers will get out of the funk they were in for the second half.

At a “magical” Packer moment when they narrowly avoid being embarassed by a 3rd string QB and the defense wins an important game with Rodgers standing on the sidelines and contributing nothing for most of the contest, you were wondering what Favre is thinking?

We already know his thinking. He expressed very positive comments re his former team.

I believe Dom Capers answered why he didn’t blitz the 3rd string QB.
He was an unknown, nobody knew the guy’s mobility. So they stuck with a 3 man rush and let our secondary make a play.
Bend But Don’t Break
It worked.

I think the Urlacher INT was a bigger factor on Rodgers’ play than the hit to the helmet. I got the feeling that having so badly misread that coverage and throwing the ball right to Urlacher Rodgers never again truly trusted what he was seeing. He seemed hesitant the rest of the way, reminded me of Brady vs the Jets last week. Also, with Cutler out I think he realized that playing conservatively was probably going to be enough and that the D would hold them. All in all it was a typical division game- no worrying about style points just score 1 more point than they do!

I think the move to warmer weather for the SB and having the game on a neutral field will really benefit the Pack in 2 weeks.

Cullen Jenkins also deserves some recognition. He played great especially early, very disruptive. This defense is so much fun to watch (except for that 4 play drive after the Raji INT).

No matter what happens this team has showed tremendous heart. For 5 straight weeks the last 3 on the road in the Playoffs they have been in a win and or go home game and have done what it takes, sometimes dominating but always getting it done. They’ve learned what it takes to close out games. McCarthy deserves a lot of credit for taking them to the next level. Maybe Detroit did the Packers a favor in that last meeting…..

Well, as one who was extremely critical of MM/TT I’ll have to say this crow tastes pretty good. Dallas bound. If McCarthy can pull off a gameplan say similar to the one at the Pats or Falcons & the team puts in a full 60 minutes GB can win this game. He;s got 2 weeks to do it so I am looking forward to see what he comes up with.

Was wondering how in the world Rodgers could not be concussed after that hit from Peppers. I feel sure he was at least a bit “dazed” for a few series. I also agree with Ray–after the Urlacher pick Aaaron looked very cautious. I think the Packers just decised to let the defense win it after Cutler went out. Almost cost them but alomost only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades.

It is being reported that Cutler has an MCL tear. My view is that if an injury is bad enough to keep you out of a championship game then you shouldn’t be standing on the sidelines – you should either be in the locker room getting treated or on crutches to prevent making the injury worse.

Cutler may very well have been injured badly enough to prevent him playing, But the way he and the team treated it doesn’t seem to tell that story. I do think burning his jersey is overreacting. I understand being pissed off (the NCFGG against the Giants anyone?) but nice jerseys are expensive and Cutler likely will be around for awhile so why waste a perfectly good jersey?

We can say he should have kept playing, but diabetes and serious injuries are not a good combination. I think its important to remember his diabetes when we question his toughness. Playing with the diseases requires toughness in of itself. The piling on is probably driven by the popular image of Cutler (that is one of a sulking, pouting whiner).

I agree diabetes and serious injuries are not a good combination as diabetes can affect circulation. However, to me that seems like you would want to be eve more careful with the injury than not. If there is a chance to avoid surgery you would want to do it.

I don’t think playing with diabetes is that big of a deal. Diabetes is a very managable condition and as long as you take care of yourself it odesn’t need to be a big deal. Cutler isn’t the first, nor will he be the last, NFL player with that condition.

Lovie just said it was a ‘sprain’ and not a ‘tear’. Usually a sprain does not require surgery. There have been a bunch of players finish games with sprained MCL’s. (Brees this year is one I can think of) Maybe Cutler’s sprain was very severe but you have to think that Bear fans are not going to drag him out from under the bus because of a sprain. He probably wouldn’t be under that bus if Cutler was willing to even try and build up any amount of good will among fans and the media. His problem is that they all pretty much can’t stand him as a person and it is pretty easy to thrown a guy under the bus you really don’t like.

I would guess Cutler isn’t the type of guy that is going to forget how Chicago fans or the media turned on him so quickly. Not sure it is possible but Cutler may actually become a bigger jerk after this. This isn’t going to end well for the Bears or Cutler and somewhere on a warm sunny island sipping a cocktail Josh McDaniels is smiling.